What Should I Say To My Christian Friend Who Believes Attending Church Is Optional?

I would say to your friend who thinks that attending church is optional, several things.

You could start practically, Do you think that you are not a part of the body of Christ that needs the rest of the body? Paul says, can the eye say to the ear, I don't need you, the nose to the mouth? If you don't attend church, you are saying exactly what Paul said the body parts are not supposed to say.

You're saying, I have nothing to gain from other people in the body of Christ.

I have nothing to give to other people in the body of Christ.

Practically, are you going to grow in your faith, even if you're doing online church, even if you read Christian books? There is not...

I'll just say it this way.

I've never met someone who said, let me tell you the greatest Christian I know in my life, and that person is disconnected from church.

No, they're invested in their church, they're in the Bible, they're in the Word.

And then I would say this to a friend who says, I'm a Christian, but church is optional.

I'd say, well, let's think about some of the ways the Bible talks about the church.

The church is a body, a building, a bride.

So we already talked about the body.

Christ is the head, and the church is the body.

So I like to use this grotesque analogy.

You've heard of decapitation, cutting someone's head off.

If you think you can be a Christian without the church, it's decorpulation.

You're cutting the body off.

You're saying, I can have Jesus without the church.

That's having a head without the body.

So I would say very nicely to that friend, You know what you are? You're walking around with Jesus' head in a bucket.

That's your spirituality.

That's all I need.

I don't need a body.

I just need a head.

That's grotesque.